Did you actually watch Liverpool under Rodgers? They hit the heights 2013 /14 season when they finished second but that was only because of the SSS strike force. Once Suarez and Sterling left Liverpool were terrible and I mean terrible.
I remember we played them about a month before Klopp came and we destroyed them 3-1, it was actually laughable how bad they were and I'm not saying that to fit any agenda because we weren't playing the greatest football either. Klopp came in and within a month they destroyed both chelski and City at the emptyhead and has kept improving them ever since with a game plan that was obvious from the very start.
I don't agree at all on the squads comparison. I think you're mixing up todays Liverpool players with what Klopp started with. The only stand out player in that Liverpool team was Coutinho. The rest were little better than average, including Milner, Henderson, Firminho and Sturidge when he was left leading the line on his own. As for the defence. The only one I would of changed between theirs and ours at the start of each managers tenure would be Clyne. We had better CBs and a lot better LB.
The reason these players have now become very good players is pretty simple really. They are well coached under a manager who is very good in what he does. Can I see players like Martial, Rashford, James, McT go on to lift the CL? No, I can't. Not because they don't have the potential but because our level of coaching will never be good enough to lift them to the heights needed.
But that is exactly the kind of stick "Ole out" people use to beat him with now. "Jose finished 2nd in 17/18, therefore he should do better etc etc...". Of course losing Suarez was big and that Liverpool squad was hardly league winner quality, but it was solid, well balanced and quite young. Rodgers at Leichester has also been used a lot as a stick to beat Ole with as hes doing very well right now at a "small" club, but as you pointed out, his time at Liverpool was a pretty mixed bag
This whole game of Schrodingers Manager is pretty pointless imo. There are literally thousands of examples anyone can use to make a point one way or the other and every manager under the sun has had some good periods and some bad ones. The only way you can fairly assess any manager at any given time is to look at the job they are doing right now.
I think there are two key things that everyone here can agree to, regardless of their stance on Ole
1. The leadership and structure at the club has been lacking direction and purpose since 2013. Hopefully the Rumenicke rumors are true, but so far its been one shitshow after the other
2. The squad was and is a complete mess and needs a major overhaul. Not only do we need quality and more depth in several key positions, but we also needs to ship off players that are clearly not good enough for various reasons. The rebuild should have started in 2013, but i dont think anyone here needs a history lesson, we all know it went to shit
So what has Ole done so far?
1. Result and performance wise its a mixed bag to put it mildly. Some great results, some decent ones, some bad ones and some horrific ones. Ideally, we
should beat Newcastle, Palace and Soton, but we failed to do so. At the same time we've beaten Chelsea twice, Leichester and stopped a Liverpool side that was on a 18 game win streak.
2. His transfers in has been the best since Fergie. Some like to discredit them as obvious, ok? But i would much rather have obvious good transfers over bad ones.
3. Hes the first one who has actually been willing to try and clear out some of the deadwood. Yes, some of the ones he got rid of might have helped now, but if they were not part of future plans its better to ship them off sooner rather than later
4. Unlike Moyes, LvG and Jose, its pretty obvious hes planning for the long term, rather than the short term. And yes, that will come at a cost, as we've seen this season.
5. He talked about building a new culture, and i think we can start to see some small signs of that.
No doubt results have been worse than we hoped for, but in my opinion long term planning is the only cure. The clubs continued existence does not rely on European football, and its worth remembering we have only managed top 4 two times the last six years. Going back and forth on what x manger did at y club in z period is pretty pointless imo, as it does not take into account so many important factors
